Mass Incarceration& Inequality in NYC

Justin Varughese, Emily Roudnitsky, & Joshua MathewMacaulay Honors Program at Brooklyn CollegeProfessor Thorne

Mass Incarceration❏ The imprisonment of a

large number of persons

❏ The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world.

❏ Certain groups of people can be impacted more than others, thus leading to inequality.

Our Theory

❏ Mass incarceration has become an inequality trap, hindering economic, social and political opportunity.

❏ Affects mostly disadvantaged African-American families.❏ We believe the system of MI is more severe in the South, where Jim Crow laws

have past endured. In the diverse NYC, the problem exists, but not to that extent.

❏ We will examine the significance of reform programs in lowering MI rates in NY by mapping incarceration statistics with other parts of the country and the US as a whole.

New York vs. Louisiana Incarceration Rates 2010

● NY○ Whites make up 58% of the total population, 26% incarcerated population○ Hispanics 18%, 22%○ Blacks 16%, 53%

● LA○ Whites 60%, 30%○ Blacks 32%, 66%

● In both states, whites are underrepresented in the incarcerated population. Blacks are immensely overrepresented in both states.

Incarceration and Crime Rates in the US

❏ There was much crime in the late 1900s, but crime rates have dropped significantly into the 2000s.

❏ However, incarceration rates have dramatically increased, which poses a problem.

❏ Two factors: ❏ States are sending a much larger

portion of offenders to prison.❏ Offenders are being held longer.

NY Prison Population before 2000❏ Up until 2000, NY had a

steady increase in prison population.

❏ Reasons why:❏ Rockefeller Drug Laws

❏ Punished minor drug

offences with major jail time❏ Zero-tolerance policies

❏ Strict regulation of items❏ Mandatory-sentencing laws

❏ Judge cannot judge

❏ These are all in the hands of policymakers.

How NY rates have changed over time

● Between 2001-2012 NYC incarceration rates declined by 36%.

● 30% below the national rate of incarceration.

● The city’s largest alternative to incarceration was probation.

● Drug courts, substance abuse programs and reforms to existing drug laws reduced the number of people incarcerated due to drug charges.

● 2004-2012, prisoners confined in state facilities for felony drug charges dropped 56%● “Between 2008 and 2012, (after Rockefeller Drug reform) the number of NYC commitments per

year to state prison on New programs like Bronx Community Solutions and CASES’ Day Custody program in Manhattan dramatically expanded alternatives to jail sentences for misdemeanants”

● Bronx Community Solutions started giving alternative sentencing to those in the Bronx in 2005. Convicted defendants: 23.7 percent in 2004 to 13.5 percent in 2012

● Felony drug charges fell 30 percent● 2009-2013 probationers incarcerated for probation violations dropped 52 percent

How NY rates have changed over time

Largest Groups in America

Mass Incarceration and Inequality

❏ MI promotes social inequality for 3 reasons:❏ It is invisible: Prison population lie outside the accounts of economic well-being.

❏ It is cumulative: Economic and social penalties are accumulated by those who already have the

fewest economic opportunities, thus increasing the gap.

❏ It is intergenerational: It does not affect just those who go to prison, but their families and

children as well.

❏ MI has been referred to as the New Jim Crow Laws. It propagates a racial caste system.❏ Author, Michelle Alexander, says the modern justice system targets the African American

population in the “War on Drugs” (exemplified by the Rockefeller Drug Laws).❏ The old Jim Crow laws promoted discrimination in employment, education, property, and voting.

❏ To what extent does the modern racial caste system reflect the characteristics of the racial discrimination in the post-Civil War Jim Crow laws?

Mass Incarceration and Inequality

❏ Mass incarceration comes with a "larger web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled criminals both in and out of prison” (Alexander)❏ legally barred from voting and face legalized discrimination in employment, housing, education,

public benefits, and jury service.

❏ One example: equally qualified matched pairs demonstrated the extent with which

contact with criminal justice system serves as a barrier to employment (Pager)

❏ Criminal justice system used to justify emergence of "new caste system”❏ Reinforces the negative social stigma

❏ Studies show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at similar rates (Alexander). Thus, racial disparities in incarceration are not explained by rates of drug crime.

Jobs and Arrests without Conviction

● Although arrests without convictions should not be a problem, they have an effect employers when trying to get a job

● Only 37% of employers who conduct background checks say that it is not at all influential in the selection process

● So people who have been arrested already have a lower chance, even if they did not commit any crime

Jobs and Arrests with Convictions

● Employers are extremely reluctant to employ past offenders● 63% say they would not or probably would not employ someone with a

criminal record● Only 11% say it depends on the crime● Some employers, when answered candidly, brushed aside the New York City

Human Rights Law.

Conclusion

❏ New York State indeed has a lower incarceration rate than Southern region states

❏ In fact, New York has reduced mass incarceration rates (Austin)❏ The New York State prison population declined by 17 percent from approximately 71,000

people in 2000 to 59,000 in 2009. Declines in the New York City prison population drove the

decline for the entire state. ❏ The state probation population declined 19 percent from 150,000 in 1998 to 122,000 by 2008. ❏ the state parole population declined 22 percent, from 54,000 in 1997 to 42,000 in 2008❏ New York City jail system declined 40 percent, from nearly 22,000 in 1991 to 13,200 in 2009.

Possible Solutions

❏ Policy and legal reforms that do not create a racial justice issue❏ A change in New York City’s policing strategy created drop in incarceration

rates (How New York City Reduced Mass Incarceration: A Model for Change?)❏ NYPD shifted toward making more arrests for misdemeanors and fewer arrests for felonies.❏ expansion of programs to divert drug offenders to alternatives to prison

❏ Changes in policy at the local level (especially police policy)

Sources● https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/just-facts-many-americans-have-criminal-records-college-diplomas● Society for Human Resource Management● https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228584.pdf● http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/434-13/mayor-bloomberg-new-york-city-s-incarceration-rate-hits-new-all-time-

low/#/0● http://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/NY.html

Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicago, IL: U Of Chicago, 2007. Print.Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, NY: New, 2010. Print.Austin, J., Jacobson, Michael, & Brennan Center for Justice, issuing body. (2013). How New York City reduced mass